Especially for Kids

As far as I know, Pierre L'Enfant and his successors were not thinking of children when they incorporated the long, open stretch of the Mall into their design for the city. But they may as well have. This 2-mile expanse of lawn running from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol is a playground, really, and a backyard to the Smithsonian museums and National Gallery of Art, which border it. You can visit any of these sites assured that if one of your little darlings starts to misbehave, you'll be able to head right out the door to the National Mall, where numerous distractions await. The Mall is always busy with walkers, joggers, and bikers. Vendors sell ice cream, soft pretzels, and sodas. Festivals of all sorts take place on a regular basis, whether it's the busy Smithsonian Folklife Festival for 10 days at the end of June into July, or the Kite Festival in spring. Weather permitting, a 19th-century carousel operates in front of the Arts and Industries Building on the south side of the Mall. Right across the Mall from the carousel is the children-friendly National Gallery Sculpture Garden, whose shallow pool is good for splashing one's feet in summer and for ice-skating in winter.

You don't need the excuse of recalcitrant children to enjoy the Mall, of course, though it's always good to have an escape route. The truth is, many of Washington's attractions hold various enchantments for children of all ages. It might be easier to point out which ones are not recommended for your youngest: the Supreme Court, the chambers of Congress, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Marian Koshland Science Museum. The International Spy Museum is now recommending that its museum is most suitable for children 12 and over. Generally speaking, the bigger and busier the museum, the better it is for kids. On the Mall, these would be the three top draws: the National Museum of Natural History, the National Air and Space Museum, and the National Museum of American History, each of which has special areas and exhibits aimed specifically at children. D.C.'s newest attractions might have the rest beat: the Newseum, Madame Tussauds Washington D.C., and the National Museum of Crime and Punishment.

I have two daughters, ages 19 and 24; their favorite Washington activities over the years have included paddle-boating on the Tidal Basin; shopping in Georgetown; attending plays at the Folger Theatre, the National Theatre, and the Kennedy Center, and Wizards and Mystics basketball games at the Verizon Center; ice-skating at the National Gallery; and visiting the National Zoo, the International Spy Museum, the National Postal Museum, the Albert Einstein Memorial, and special exhibits at the National Gallery of Art, as long as we had something to eat at one of the cafes. (Parents, you will be happy to note that many of the museums offer food of some sort, or vendor carts at the curb.)

For more ideas, consult the online or print version of the Friday "Weekend" section of the Washington Post, which lists numerous activities (mostly free) for kids: special museum events, children's theater, storytelling programs, puppet shows, video-game competitions, and so forth. Call the Kennedy Center and the National Theatre to find out about children's shows.

Favorite Children's Attractions

Check for special children's events at museum information desks when you enter. As noted within the listings for individual museums, some children's programs are also great fun for adults. I recommend the programs at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Phillips, and the Sackler Gallery in particular. (The gift shops in most of these museums have wonderful toys and children's books.) Call ahead to find out which programs are running. Here's a rundown of great kid-pleasers in town:

• Madame Tussauds Washington D.C.: There are two kinds of people in this world: those who think wax museums are hokey, and children. Yeah, watch your offspring pretend to sing with Beyoncé, box with Evander Holyfield, stand tall next to George Washington, and whoop it up with Whoopi. Maybe you'll find your inner child and start loving these wax figures, too.

• Discovery Theater, inside the S. Dillon Ripley Center: Right next to the Smithsonian Castle (Information Center) on the National Mall is this underground children's theater that puts on live performing arts entertainments for the kiddies, about 30 productions each season, including puppet shows, storytelling, dances, and plays.

• National Museum of Crime and Punishment: Your little darlings can pretend to be little Dillingers and test their safecracking skills, or little Elliot Nesses as they learn how to take fingerprints and gather clues.

• Newseum: Proceed directly to the interactive newsroom on the second floor, where your children will happily, endlessly play computer games while testing their news knowledge and journalism skills, and where they'll have the chance to play an on-camera reporter.

• Lincoln Memorial: Kids know a lot about Lincoln and enjoy visiting his memorial. A special treat is visiting after dark.

• National Air and Space Museum: Spectacular IMAX films (don't miss), thrilling flight simulators, planetarium shows, missiles, rockets, and a walk-through orbital workshop.

• National Museum of American History: Living history performances and lively musical numbers staged in public areas throughout the museum switch up a typical museum visit into something more fun and memorable. And the museum has gotten into simulators, offering rides on machines that make you believe you're driving a race car or riding on a roller coaster.

• National Museum of Natural History: A Discovery Room just for youngsters, the Butterfly Pavilion and exhibit, as well as the outdoor butterfly garden, an insect zoo, shrunken heads, dinosaurs, and the IMAX theater showing 2-D and 3-D films.

• National Zoological Park: Pandas! Cheetahs! Kids always love a zoo, and this is an especially good one.

• Washington Monument: Spectacular 360-degree views from the center of Washington, D.C.